Bainbridge Island students learning from robots

LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN
The robots are used for lessons in a variety of science-related topics, from electromagnetics to computer programming.

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND - Sonoji Sakai Intermediate School sixth grader Ben Franz hopes to become a professional baseball player when he grows up. But if that doesn't work out, he can always fall back on a career in robotics.

The 11-year-old is a student in Amy Evans' science class, where sixth graders have spent much of this school year programming Lego robots to navigate mazes using light, sound and touch sensors. Evans purchased a 15-robot set for her class at the start of the school year using district tech levy funds, and has since incorporated them into lessons on measurement, sound, light and the electromagnetic spectrum.

She said students have surpassed her hopes for each lesson, experimenting and innovating wherever possible.

"The kids are so engaged," she said. "I mean, at this point I'm more like a coach, instead of giving them direct instruction, I've given them a mission and they're finding their own way."

In April, Evans won a nearly $10,000 grant from 3M that will allow Sakai to purchase a full set of the robots for each of the school's three sixth-grade science teachers. Other teachers have borrowed the sets for a few weeks at a time to complete the measurement cycle, but the difficulty of sharing 15 different 500-piece sets between three classrooms has limited what each instructor can do.

Teacher Marcus Kitley said he's eager to experiment with his own set next school year.

"We cover a wide spectrum of different science topics, and so with some of the adaptations you can put on some of the robots, you can do stuff for the electromagnetic spectrum, visible light and light detection and how those sensors work on there, as well as sound energy," he said.

Teachers lead students through the first few exercises, showing them how to input commands with a child-friendly programming interface and sync them to the robots. After that, students are free to improvise.

Rather than direct instructions — travel 15 centimeters, turn right, go back 10 centimeters — they create rules telling the robots how to react in certain situations. For example, a robot could be instructed to rotate 45 degrees when its touch sensor hits a wall or to stop moving when it senses a loud noise. They then place each robot into a maze and watch how it reacts to various obstacles, adjusting commands as necessary until it can navigate the course successfully.

Kitley said the robots allow students to connect with scientific material using familiar technology, and the interactive aspect helps engage students in conceptual topics like the metric system.

"Just the sight of Legos, robots, laptop computers — they are into that, that's kind of their generation of being able to hop on a program and figure things out," he said. "What's great about them is that you incorporate so many different aspects."

Teachers can also pick and choose which aspects students must explore and which are optional, Evans said, making lessons adaptable to the specific needs of each student. While some students take to programming quickly and move to advanced challenges, others can learn just as much through practicing the basics.

"Everyone is feeling successful, but they're working at what level is appropriate for them academically," she said.

They're also working in teams, which 12-year-old YuYu Madigan said makes it easier to brainstorm when problems come up. Madigan and her partner added lights and sensors to their robot and took turns troubleshooting when something didn't go as planned.

"They (the robots) teach you about working with a partner … and that it's not always going to be perfect on the first try, that there's always trial and error," she said.

According to Greg Moncada, the science, technology, engineering and mathematics coordinator for Bainbridge Island School District, the robots are just one part of a robotics program he's trying to create among the district's schools. Moncada urged Evans to apply for the 3M grant and said he appreciated her willingness to lead efforts at Sakai.

"You have to go where the teachers are willing to go," he said. "So when you have a teacher step forward, I work like made to make sure that they have everything that they need."